


Requiem for the Lady Behind the Desk

by WithYouTilTheEndoftheLine



Category: The Strain (TV)
Genre: F/M, Pining, UST, in which i latch on to minor characters like liferafts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-17 03:04:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8127916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithYouTilTheEndoftheLine/pseuds/WithYouTilTheEndoftheLine
Summary: It was never going to go anywhere, she knew that. Largely because she wouldn't let it.





	

Her first clue should've been the name. He'd introduced himself as Chadwick Laurent, a name that he felt 'embodied him as an artist'.

These days, Lauretta would've run away screaming. But at the time, she'd been taking a college art class, and he was charming and talented and seemed to have forgotten more about art theory than she could ever learn.

After they'd gotten married--a small affair, because with her working a temp job at an office and him trying to shop his paintings around to local galleries, they couldn't afford much--her name had changed to Lauretta Laurent.

Yeah. Definitely should've taken a hint from the name.

***

Janie changed things. Chadwick said that babies always did, but she wasn't so sure. She thought Janie had just amplified what was already there.

***

She'd thought Chadwick was finally going out to look for a steady job. Something to help tide them over now that baby made three.

Turned out, he'd been going out to look for other women.

She'd ranted at him when she'd found out, of course, asked him what the hell he was thinking, how could he do such a thing. And he'd turned it right back around on her, the ferocity in his voice frightening her, making her take a few instinctive steps back as he'd yelled about the gall she'd had to ask him to get a "9-to-5 slave schedule", at the pressure she was putting him under. How he hadn't even been able to paint a new piece since she'd come out of the bathroom holding the pregnancy test.

Lauretta filed for divorce two days later.

***

She remembered when she and Chadwick had been touring some art galleries one afternoon, about three weeks before she'd taken that fateful pregnancy test. They'd seen a man in an exterminator's uniform heading back to his vehicle, and Chadwick had laughed.

"Can you imagine toiling your life away at a job like that?" he'd asked. "How do these people not kill themselves?"

And some part of her, a part that hadn't even been there when they'd married but that had grown louder and stronger ever since, wanted to snap at him. But she'd known that would lead to a huge fight, and she just couldn't deal with it today. So she'd given him a smile, not even disappointed anymore that he couldn't seem to tell the difference between her genuine ones and the fake ones.

***

She'd taken the job at the exterminators' office as a 'fuck you'; no denying that. As she'd come in on her first day, all she'd been able to think about was how Chadwick would react. 

So many things she'd left unsaid. She pictured herself sometimes, advancing on her ex and screaming back, unloading her stress and pain from the myriad hurts he'd piled onto her over the years. Then she'd yell, "And your actual name is _Bill_ , you pretentious asshole!" and stomp out the door, leaving him a rattled shell of his former self.

And yeah, her crush on Fet had probably also been part of that 'fuck you', in the beginning. After she'd gotten over her initial reaction of "holy shit, the city of New York employs _mountains_ now?" she'd imagined herself walking down the street with him and running into Chadwick, imagined the look on Chadwick's face as he saw how happy they were while he tried in vain to get someone, anyone, to buy his paintings. And then she and Fet would walk off laughing (well, most of the time, on her more vindictive days the fantasy ended with her spritzing Chadwick with rat poison, because screw that guy).

But as she'd moved on, as her once ever-present anger at Chadwick had faded, her feelings for Fet had veered away from 'wouldn't it be funny if' and more toward 'I wish'.

He was kind, dependable, flirtatious, and though he could be childlike at times (that man never met a jump scare he didn't like) he wasn't immature. The fact that he had a habit of edging just a little closer into her personal space than coworkers usually would didn't hurt, either. Well, maybe it wasn't the best thing for her heart rate, but she could handle that.

He was a good man.

***

It was never going to go anywhere, she knew that. Largely because she wouldn't let it.

She liked this job, a lot. Tons of people wanted vacation after vacation, wanted to escape from their daily routine, but to Lauretta this job was an escape. She didn't talk about Janie--the good or the bad, because everyone else kept their conversations either professional or lighthearted and she'd easily fallen into the routine of doing the same. Here, it didn't matter if her marriage had imploded or that her mother was constantly complaining about what an idiot she'd been to marry Chadwick in the first place or that she was having a hell of a time trying to potty-train Janie. She was just the Lady Behind the Desk, and that was fine.

And it'd change in an instant if she asked Fet out to dinner and he had to do the whole 'try to reject her nicely' thing.

Or worse, what if he said yes? If things worked out, great, but if they didn't? What if they sat down across from each other at a restaurant and he told her that this whole ratcatching thing was good for a paycheck but what he really wanted to do was paint? It made her skin crawl.

Besides, she knew from some of her friends that even the most decent guys could get weird once they discovered there was a kid in the picture.

Better that things stay as they were.

But that didn't mean she couldn't fantasize about being a little bit braver.

***

When the guy stumbled into the office, at first she thought he was drunk. Couldn't seem to stay upright; made this weird groaning/growling sound instead of talking.

She asked if he was all right, started to get up from behind her desk, and then something uncurled from the man's mouth and shot straight at her.

Lauretta screamed and raced downstairs without a second thought. She heard the sound of a struggle upstairs, knew that she should try to get one of the windows open, should figure out someplace to hide, at least, but now that she was out of sight of that _thing_ fear had taken total control of her and she couldn't seem to move. 

But it was going to be okay, her mom had Janie. And her mom might never stop saying I told you so about Chadwick but she loved her granddaughter more than her own life and she'd keep her safe, she'd get away from this place and make sure Janie was okay. Lauretta would text her herself, tell her to get the hell out of the city, if she hadn't left her phone upstairs on her desk.

And if she still had time.

Because there were footsteps descending the stairs now, and that growling sound was getting louder.

Once, a guy who'd been strung out on PCP or meth or something-or-other had made his way to their office. He'd seemed more jittery than actually violent at first, though her opinion on that had changed immediately when he'd upended her desk.

Her boss and two of her other coworkers had done their best to restrain him while she called the police, but it wasn't until Fet had come in that they'd finally gotten him still.

As much as part of her wanted him to come running to the rescue again, be her knight in shining armor one more time, she was surprised to realize that a larger part just wanted him to stay the hell away. Because this wasn't a rat, wasn't even some drugged-up guy that it'd take four men to bring down. This was something so, so much worse. And even if she couldn't get away, it was a comfort to know that at least he was somewhere else, hopefully somewhere safe.

It was a shit moment, she decided, to realize she was in love.


End file.
